Animals Stealing Compost!!

Animals Stealing Compost!!

Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:25 pm

I have givin up on my outdoor compost pile as I am losing every bit of food I place in the pile. I put a pile of old vegetables, fruit amongst other scrap and check the next day to find it gone! Good thing I have a productive worm bin.

Back when I had open compost piles, I had problems with animals taking food from it, too. In fact, I had a dog who loved to eat the materials from the pile, even after they were no longer recognizable. She would even eat finished compost when I spread it around my plants.

It was because of her that I finally moved my compost to bins made of 2" x 4" welded wire. She'd even stand beside them and 'graze' through the wire, so I eventually made bins of 1/2" x 1" welded wire to keep her out.

That particular dog would eat anything, though. She even once ate a glass thermometer ... and yes, it was an old one, that contained mercury. I had to call the Poison Control Center so many times about that poor beast!

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" - Douglas Adams

What do you have your compost pile IN? Mine is in a bin of heavy duty wire grid, spaced a couple inches apart. It doesn't keep mice out and I know little critters do get in sometimes and move things around. But I've never been able to tell that they ate enough of it to really concern me. The grid keeps out the dogs, cats, raccoons, woodchucks, etc that otherwise would be tearing it apart.

What's in your bin?

What's in the bin might be just as telling as what your pile is in. If you've got an attractive nuisance in your pile make sure it is well covered.

I'm not sure the peeing trick will guarantee the critters will stay out.

To keep squirrels out I've nailed window screen to the pallets that form some of my bins. I need to do a better job though. A couple found egress in a couple of gaps. We'll see. I think the rats are getting ready for a return.

I haven't had to deal with raccoons and I hear they're good at getting into all kinds of things.

I sit my bins on pavers that sit on the ground. That keeps the burrowing critters away but the worms still get in.

But I do it and it DOES keep the deer from eating all my corn each year.....but I gotta be sure to do it EVERY day around my garden during the growing season. I know some people who live in the mountains where bear, wolfs and some mnt lions are and they swear by the "peeing" method.

gixxerific wrote:I have read that the feces from a meat eating animal will deter non meat eating animals. So eat lot's of steak and.... well, you get the picture. Dog doo will not work but something like coyote would.

yup...I've heard some people can get that sort of compost from local zoos? I have a Game Ranch near by and they have some cougars there.....might check it out and see what they offer?

Sounds like bullthistle might be doing vermicomposting with a worm box. Right bullthistle? Grinding the kitchen scraps up might be more important for that. For an outdoor compost pile is an unneeded extra step, they break down quite well on their own.